Margaret
Gilliam
formerly [surname unknown]
Born about in New Kent, Colony of Virginia
Daughter of [father unknown] and [mother unknown]
[sibling(s) unknown]
Wife of
Richard Gilliam Sr
— married
1699 in St. Peter's Parish, New Kent, Colony of Virginia
Descendants 
Mother of
Elizabeth Gilliam, William Gilliam, Margaret Gilliam, Richard Gilliam Jr and Epaphroditus Gilliam
Died
at about age 60
in St. Peter's Parish, New Kent, Colony of Virginia
Profile last modified
| Created 10 Feb 2018
This page has been accessed 239 times.
Biography
It has been traditionally said that Margaret, the wife of Richard Gilliam of St. Peter's Parish is a Lawson. There is no primary source documentation to support this claim. This is based on the fact that Richard and Margaret named their last known son, Epaphroditus, supposedly after Epaphroditus Lawson of Lancaster County. There is no known daughter of Epaphroditus Lawson named Margaret. His will mentions one unnamed child: "make & ordaigne ye Child my Wife now goeth with my heire."
It is more likely that Epaphroditus Gilliam was named after one of the families of St. Peter's Parish that used the given name Epaphroditus. Among them are the Drakes, and the Howles. The Drakes married into the Gilliams. The Howles did too, but later. An Epaphroditus Howle precedes Epaphroditus Gilliam by about 25 years. He appears to be the most likely namesake for Epaphroditus Gilliam.
It is likely Margaret is the mother of only William, Margaret, Richard and Epaphroditus.
Timeline
Birth
bef 1679
Marriage
bef 1699
Richard GILLIAM
(1669–1713)
Richard was likely married twice as there is a 9 year gap in the birth of his children and William's mother is expressly named Margaret. [1]
Vestry
26 Mar 1699 • St Peter's Parish, New Kent County, VA
1699, March 26
William, son of Richard and Margaret Gillum baptised
[2]
Vestry
2 Nov 1701 • St Peter's Parish, New Kent County, VA
1701, Nov 2
Margaret, daughter of Richard Gillum, Bap.
[3]
Vestry
2 Sep 1722 • St Peter's Parish, New Kent County, VA
At a Vestry held at the Parish Church of St. Peter’s on the Second day of September 1722
Ordered that Marg’t Guillam have 600 lb of Tobacco for keeping Rebecca Spurlock.
Ordered that Jno. Guillam, have 800 lb of Tobo for keeping eliz Johnson.
[4]
Vestry
30 Sep 1723 • St Peter's Parish, New Kent County, VA
At a Vestry held for St Peter’s Parish Sep’r 30th, 1723
To Jno GILLIAM for keeping Eliz. Jnoson, 815; Tho Howl for Keeping Edm’d Bedford 1515 . . .
To Ste. Moone, Eliz. Scruggs, ___ Marg’t GILLIAM ____ Mr. Wm. Waddill __ _____ 2991
[5]
Vestry
13 Jun 1724 • St Peter's Parish, New Kent County, VA
At a Vestry held for St. Peter’s parish June 13th, 1724
To Marg’t Guilliam for keeping Spurlock, Sam’l Bugg for keeping Edm. Bedford 1450
[6]
Death
12 Feb 1725 • St Peter's Parish, New Kent County, VA
1725/26, Feb 12
Margaret Guilliam died
[7]
Sources
- ↑ Virginia Births and Christenings, 1584-1917", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VRR4-4H3 : 28 January 2020), Margaret in entry for William Gillum, 1699.
- ↑ Chamberlayne, C.G., ed. The Vestry Book and Register of St. Peter's Parish New Kent and James City Counties, Virginia 1684-1786. Richmond, Va.: Library Board, 1937, page 357
- ↑ Chamberlayne, C.G., ed. The Vestry Book and Register of St. Peter's Parish New Kent and James City Counties, Virginia 1684-1786. Richmond, Va.: Library Board, 1937, page 358
- ↑ National Society of the Colonial Dames of America in the State of Virginia. Parish Register of Saint Peter's, New Kent County, Virginia, 1680-1787. Richmond, VA: Clearfield Co, 1904, page 133
- ↑ National Society of the Colonial Dames of America in the State of Virginia. Parish Register of Saint Peter's, New Kent County, Virginia, 1680-1787. Richmond, VA: Clearfield Co, 1904, page 137
- ↑ National Society of the Colonial Dames of America in the State of Virginia. Parish Register of Saint Peter's, New Kent County, Virginia, 1680-1787. Richmond, VA: Clearfield Co, 1904, pages 139 and 140
- ↑ Chamberlayne, C.G., ed. The Vestry Book and Register of St. Peter's Parish New Kent and James City Counties, Virginia 1684-1786. Richmond, Va.: Library Board, 1937, page 431
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DNA Connections
It may be possible to confirm family relationships with Margaret by comparing test results with other carriers of her mitochondrial DNA. However, there are no known mtDNA test-takers in her direct maternal line. It is likely that these autosomal DNA test-takers will share some percentage of DNA with Margaret:
It may be possible to confirm family relationships with Margaret by comparing test results with other carriers of her mitochondrial DNA. However, there are no known mtDNA test-takers in her direct maternal line. It is likely that these autosomal DNA test-takers will share some percentage of DNA with Margaret:
-
~0.39%
Wirt Gilliam
:
23andMe, GEDmatch BZ8050245 [compare]
+
AncestryDNA, GEDmatch A313900 [compare], Ancestry member wirtg
+
Family Tree DNA Family Finder, GEDmatch T487331 [compare], FTDNA kit #571866
+
MyHeritage DNA, GEDmatch WB3476907 [compare]
+
Living DNA, GEDmatch GL4268526 [compare]
-
~0.39%
Pernell Gilliam :
23andMe, GEDmatch ZJ5387686 [compare]
-
~0.39%
Rickey Boggs :
23andMe
-
~0.39%
J Molder :
AncestryDNA, GEDmatch A926832 [compare], Ancestry member JEM
-
~0.39%
Doris (Gilliam) Hobbs :
AncestryDNA, Ancestry member dghobbs
-
~0.39%
Mark Carroll :
AncestryDNA
-
~0.39%
Clyde Baker :
Family Tree DNA Family Finder, FTDNA kit #11908
Have you taken a DNA test? If so, login to add it. If not, see our friends at Ancestry DNA.
Margaret is 22 degrees from Emeril Lagasse, 24 degrees from Nigella Lawson, 20 degrees from Maggie Beer, 44 degrees from Mary Hunnings, 27 degrees from Joop Braakhekke, 30 degrees from Michael Chow, 18 degrees from Ree Drummond, 22 degrees from Paul Hollywood, 23 degrees from Matty Matheson, 24 degrees from Martha Stewart, 27 degrees from Danny Trejo and 26 degrees from Molly Yeh on our single family tree. Login to find your connection.
Even though I am officially the "profile manager for Lawson-151, I am not at all convinced that the maiden name of Richard Gilliam's wife Margaret was Lawson. As far as I have been able to ascertain, the only basis for such a belief is that William & Margaret had a son named Epaphroditus Gilliam. This name is extremely rare in the annals of colonial Virginia. Consequently, I am willing to entertain the possibility that he was named for Epaphroditus Lawson (son of Rowland), or for Rowland's grandson of the same name. But I don't know how to make a really convincing case for a family connection with the Lawsons. The name Epaphroditus could have come into the Gilliam family from the Bible and not from the Lawson family (who didn't even live especially near the Gilliams).
We know from the court records of Lancaster County that the older Epaphroditus Lawson died intestate (probably in 1660 or 1661), but since there is no mention of any widow or surviving children in the order that granted possession of his "small estate" to his mother Lettice Lawson for "the payment of some small debts of her said son and the good of her self and children," it must be concluded that he died without leaving any children.
Bottom line -- I believe a merger is in order. The surviving profile should be the one with the "unknown" maiden name, since the "Lawson" surname is speculative at this point. The possibility that her maiden name was Lawson should be discussed in research notes. If I could find any evidence of the existence of a "Margaret Lawson" in the right time and place, I would want to maintain a separate profile for her, but not when she seems to be only a figment of someone's imagination.
That said, in the merged biography I would want to use an estimated birth year of 1669, based on the birth of her first child in 1687 and the birth of her last child between 1707 and 1709 (the last digit of the year having been lost from the parish register by fraying, apparently). The birth year of 1658, as listed on the "unknown" profile, is simply too early unless Margaret was fertile at an age worthy of some Guinness record book.
Finally, the merged profile should resolve the discrepancy in death dates. It's easily done because in the parish register the date was entered as a "double date" of 1725/6, showing both the Julian calendar year as well as the Gregorian calendar year of 1726. I hope for the day when Wikitree's software will allow us to enter a double date as "1725/6" in the date fields, but to my knowledge that time is still in the offing.